The Imperial Presidency

[robkelk]

Stephen Colbert's The Tonight Show CANCELLED after Trump forces major settlement from CBS

In a statement from CBS, owned by Paramount Global, the network announced: "'THE LATE SHOW with STEPHEN COLBERT' will end its historic run in May 2026 at the end of the broadcast season. We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire the 'THE LATE SHOW' franchise at that time. We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late-night television.

"This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount."

But the move comes just weeks after CBS' parent company forced them to settle in a major Trump lawsuit over the alleged altering of an episode of '60 Minutes'. The network paid the US President $16 million to settle out of court.

I will point out that it's The Express, not me, that is connecting these two events. Since we have no idea what that out-of-court settlement says, there is no way to confirm or refute the correlation.


Stephen Colbert and CBS both say his show will end in May 2026

Late-night TV has been facing economic pressures for years; viewership is down and many young viewers prefer highlights online, which networks have trouble monetizing. CBS also recently cancelled host Taylor Tomlinson's After Midnight, which aired after The Late Show.

But Colbert has been leading in the late-night entertainment ratings for several years. While NBC has acknowledged economic pressures by eliminating the band on Seth Meyers's show and cutting one night of Jimmy Fallon's The Tonight Show, there had been no such visible efforts at The Late Show.

Colbert's relentless criticism of Trump, his denunciation of the lawsuit settlement and the parent company's pending sale can't be ignored, said Bill Carter, author of The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno, and the Network Battle for the Night.

"If CBS thinks people are just going to swallow this, they're really deluded," Carter said.

EDIT: It's pretty obvious to me that the CBS that Labster mentioned on the bingo card doesn't exist any more. Even if they don't complete the merger with Skydance Media.